Front Page News

Line 5 tunnel project in Straits of Mackinac gets US Army Corps of Engineers permit

LANSING -- The US Army Corps of Engineers has permitted construction of the controversial Line 5 tunnel project in the Straits of Mackinac.

The project, which would divert a section of the Line 5 petroleum pipeline from the open waters of the Straits into a concrete tunnel beneath the lakebed, is "not contrary to the public interest" and would not harm tribal treaty rights, the Army Corps said in announcing its permit.

While the federal approval clears a big hurdle for the nearly decade-old proposal, don't expect shovels in the ground anytime soon. The Michigan Supreme Court recently ordered state energy regulators to reconsider a separate key permit, the project remains tied up in state and federal court, and new lawsuits have been promised by opponents.

Nonetheless, Line 5 owners Enbridge Energy praised Wednesday's decision.

The federal permit "represents the highest standard of environmental review required for major critical energy and other infrastructure projects," Enbridge said in a written statement. "Line 5 is safe. Enbridge will continue operating Line 5 safely and responsibly, incorporating enhanced safety measures in the Straits, and protecting Michigan's natural and cultural resources."

A coalition of Native American tribes that has opposed the project, meanwhile, slammed the decision.

"Our federal government has a solemn obligation to uphold and protect Treaty rights and is supposed to protect American waters and sacred spaces," Managing Attorney David Gover with the Native American Rights Fund said in a statement. "Instead, the U.S. Army Corps just rubber-stamped a Canadian oil project that desecrates a Tribal sacred space and threatens to pollute the Great Lakes."